Cervelo P5X

This year’s Ironman World Championships marked the release of Cervelo’s flagship triathlon bike, the P5X. It’s an insane, ambitious, supercar of a bicycle that’s been polarizing both our shop staff and customers since it’s release. We can understand that. With two models coming in at approx. 11k and 15k, the price tag alone is an issue.

And depending on who you talk to, the aesthetics of the bike are either a thing of beauty, or Frankenstein’s monster. With the P5X, Cervelo has created one of the most discussed, divisive bikes in recent history, and we can only thank them for that.

Cervelo is a company that owns the Kona Bike Count. It’s the king of the triathlon market, selling P2’s like we sell Clif Bars. Yet here they are, showing us the way forward. Pushing the limits and never growing complacent. This is a company with an almost neurotic need to create. We were chatting about this at the shop and realized that in little more than the past year, Cervelo has released the new C Series of endurance road bikes, the R3 Disc, the S3 Disc, as well as the P5X.

That’s astonishing.

Our Cervelo rep has been making the rounds to all of our seven locations and we’ve gotten the chance to really look at the design of the P5X. Our jaded mechanics have been quick to pull the bike apart. We expected to hear only groans and grumbles as they recognized the gimmicks Cervelo must surely have hidden somewhere. But to our delight, our fitters and service staff all came away with real respect for the bike.

The P5X is more adjustable than you’d ever imagine. With a front end that raises and lowers in much the same way your seat post does, you can achieve a wide variety of positions. The base bar flips, the aero pads have a lot of adjustability and you can take the front end off for packing into a bike box very quickly. Even the saddle rails offer more fore/aft adjustment than you’d normally see.

The frame itself is made (right here in the US of A) from one giant carbon mold. This means that there are no glued seams, and the monocoque chassis is extremely strong. Cervelo has taken advantage of the empty spaces within the frame itself to create some nice integrated storage. In fact, you can easily fit a spare tubular tire into the cavity of the bike.

Hydraulic disc brakes and Shimano or Sram electronic shifting round out the package, as we’ll they should. This is a lifetime bike after all. And yes, disc brakes are on triathlon bikes now. We have no doubt that the industry will follow Cervelo’s lead on this. Disc brakes have objectively better stopping power, and they’ve already taken over practically every other aspect of the cycling industry.

Chapeau, Cervelo… With the P5X you’ve created something that has our customers talking. The truth is that we’ll only sell as couple of these dream bikes, but the trickle down effect will resonant throughout the entirety of the Cervelo Tri bike line for years to come. Thanks for taking a risk in the pursuit of speed